Friday, March 30, 2007

Dennis Dixon will begin spring drills atop the depth chart at quarterback for the Oregon football team, UO coach Mike Bellotti announced Wednesday in a statement released by the athletic department.

Jackie Bates is one of two players, along with end Victor Filipe, who "the Ducks are expected to have back following extensive absences last year." Filipe redshirted the season due to an elbow injury and Bates returns from a suspension due to detrimental conduct.

At least seven players will miss all or part of the 15 practices because of injury, the statement said, including starting offensive tackles Max Unger and Geoff Schwartz, defensive tackles Cole Linehan, Jeremy Gibbs and Simi Toeaina, fullback Jason Turner and receiver Derrick Jones.

Linehan, who had surgery last season to repair a broken foot, underwent a second surgical procedure following the bowl game.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Tajuan Porter, tied an NCAA regional record with eight 3-pointers and finished with 33 points, as Oregon withstood a frantic comeback to beat seventh-seeded UNLV 76-72 on Friday in the Midwest Regional.

Malik Hairston had 14 points and 11 rebounds for Oregon (29-7). Maarty Leunen hit three 3-pointers and added 11 points. "I just came out with a lot of confidence," Porter said.

During one stretch in the first half, Porter scored 17 straight points for Oregon, hitting five 3-pointers in a span of just over five minutes. Even when he was fouled tossing up a 3, Porter canned all three free throws.He capped a 14-2 run with a 3-pointer less than a minute out of halftime, giving the Ducks a 45-33 lead and forcing UNLV coach Lon Kruger to call a timeout. But a few minutes later, Porter pulled up in transition and buried another one from the top of the arc to make it 58-40.The game was never as close as the final score would indicate. The Ducks were outstanding on defense and Porter reminded us of the glory days of the Sega Genesis. We would sit for hours on end playing NBA Jams, listening to the announcer declare, "he's on fire", "is it the shoes?" or "boom-shaka-laka".

The Ducks will play #1 seed Florida on Sunday. Game time is 11:40 am PDT on CBS.

Monday, March 12, 2007

I have posted new pictures over at my Flickr site. I took a trip this last weekend to catch Jake & Max playing some basketball and to stop for a visit with Noah & Chuck on my way home.

Jake had a fantastic game on Friday night and Max played his heart out on Saturday. I had a great time in Vancouver with the whole family. The basketball pictures didn't turn out as I had hoped. A slow shutter speed made most of the photos blurry, so I deleted them.

This picture of Noah is just too cute as he hams it up for the camera.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Great news for the Ducks. Number three seed in the Midwest bracket. We are going up against Miami of Ohio (14) in the first round in Spokane on Friday. If we win that one, we go up against the winner of the Notre Dame (6) - Winthrop (11) on Sunday. Let the good times roll. (Click on the bracket picture above for an enlarged view)

Update: The first game is being played at 2:00 PM PDT on Friday. I don't know if it will be televised, but just in case it isn't, you can sign up for free On Demand online access to this game here: http://ncaasports.com/mmod/welcome... Also requires that you be a registered user at CBS Sportsline.com (free).

Update #2: In the final rankings Oregon finished #10 on the AP Poll and #12 on the ESPN/USA Today poll.

Update #3: The Oregon - Miami of Ohio game will be televised on the West Coast by CBS. Game time will be around 2 PM PDT.

Bryce Taylor (pictured) pressures himself daily to be perfect. For one game, he was.

Taylor made every shot he took and scored a career-high 32 points in a record-setting performance, and No. 16 Oregon routed Southern California 81-57 Saturday to win the Pac-10 tournament title.

Taylor went 11-for-11 from the field, 7-for-7 from 3-point range and 3-for-3 from the line before being removed with 6 1/2 minutes left and the Ducks ahead by 39 points.

Tajuan Porter added 16 points and Aaron Brooks 15 for the Ducks, who shot 54 percent for the game. Oregon's 14 3-pointers were also a tourney record.

Porter was named the tourney MVP. Taylor and Brooks joined him on the all-tourney team, along with USC teammates Taj Gibson and Gabe Pruitt and Cal's Ryan Anderson .

The Ducks (26-7) head into the NCAA Tournament on a six-game winning streak. They haven't been there since 2003, also the last time they won the conference tourney. The NCAA Selection Committee will announce the brackets later today.

Winning the PAC-10 title, and in such dominating fashion, will go a long way in securing a favorable seeding for the last chapter of 2006-2007 college basketball, which starts on Thursday.

The Ducks shot 80 percent from the floor during the opening seven minutes, crushing the Bears with five 3-pointers on the way to Oregon's largest halftime lead of the season, 44-23. Cal, which set a school record for 3-pointers this season, hit just two in the half.

When the Ducks weren't scoring from the perimeter, they were dominating in the paint, outscoring the Bears 22-12.

"That's as good a first half as we've ever played. We were really clicking," Kent said.

Outstanding defense spurred the offense for Oregon. This team is putting all the pieces together at just the right time. I have been watching Duck basketball since the Dick Harter era and these guys are playing as good as any Oregon team since then. It should make for an exciting game against USC today (3 PM PST - CBS).

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Tajuan Porter and Aaron Brooks combined for 37 points as the 16th ranked Ducks cruised to a 69-50 win over Arizona today.

Porter, a 5-foot-6 freshman, shot 8-of-12 -- including 5-of-6 from 3-point range -- for 21 points. Brooks, the Ducks' leading scorer, had all 16 of his points in the first 13 minutes to help put Oregon ahead for good. He shot 6-of-13, including 4-of-8 from outside the arc.

The fourth-seeded Ducks (24-7) have won five straight games.

I believe we will face the winner of the UCLA - Cal game tomorrow night at 6:20 pm pst. It will be televised on FSN.

The Ducks (23-7, 11-7) won their final three games of the regular season and have won 14 straight against the Beavers (11-20, 3-15) at McArthur Court. Oregon will go into next week's Pac-10 tournament as the fourth seed and will play Arizona.

This game was just what the Ducks needed heading into the post season and the seniors enjoyed an easy victory as they played their last game at Mac Court.